Friday, May 30, 2014

TORONTO — Though known for his censorious statements about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and his vocal support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, human rights activist and retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu met May 27 in Toronto with a delegation from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

The archbishop was in Canada to attend an international gathering of the Order of St. John, of which St. John Ambulance is a service organization, and met privately with Shimon Fogel, CIJA’s chief executive officer, along with CIJA chair David Koschitzky, board member Berl Nadler, philanthropist Michael Dan and former CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress, Bernie Farber, for about 40 minutes in his suite at the King Edward Hotel.

A Nobel laureate and the first black archbishop of Cape Town, the archbishop rose to renown in the 1980s for his ardent criticism of the South African government’s treatment of blacks and his encouragement of non-violent measures of protest, including boycott and divestment. He has been widely disparaged within the Jewish community for likening Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and for endorsing international boycotts against it.

Fogel stressed that CIJA, part of whose mandate is to build relationships with other faith communities, did not initiate the meeting, but when approached by the Order with a request to meet with Archbishop Tutu, “felt there might be some value in sharing our perspective with him… an opportunity to speak directly and forthrightly about the extent to which [his] statements [about Israel] are misguided, hurtful and offensive.”

He said the meeting focused exclusively on the Arab-Israeli conflict and gave CIJA the chance to express its dismay at Tutu’s articulation of anti-Israel views over the years.

“We characterized his views as deeply hurtful and harmful to the one state in the region in which the Christian community can practise their faith free of the kind of intimidation, threats and that exist elsewhere.”

The archbishop was, according to Fogel, “entirely unrepentant and unapologetic,” showing no willingness to amend his position...

I knew it was only a matter of time before Carney (which, amusingly enough, rhymes with "blarney") high-tailed it outta there. He's been looking pretty beaten down of late, a function, no doubt, of all the malarkey and double-talk he's been forced to use as he performs his sad little tap dance in front of the White House press corps.Hasta la vista, Jay. And good luck trying to rebuild the self-respect that drained away as a result of having to tell all those monstrous lies for your boss and his appalling regime.

Would Ottawa City Hall give approval for an exhibit that depicted, say, Mohamed Atta and Osama bin Laden in a positive light? Of course not. So why would it give thumbs up to this?

According to the Toronto Sun, Canada's capital Ottawa's city hall has no plans to take down an exhibit that honors Palestinian terrorists.

Toronto-based artist Rehab Nazzal created the exhibit featuring pictures of "lost artists, activists, writers and leaders." The pictures feature the face of Abu Iyad, a founder of the Black September terrorist organization responsible for the murders of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.

Dalal Mughrabi is also featured in the exhibit. Mughrabi orchestrated the 1978 Coastal Bus attack that killed 38 Israelis, including 13 children.

The mastermind of the Ma'alot school massacre, Khalil Nazzal, is also honored. The terrorist attack, which took place 40 years ago this month, resulted in the deaths of 22 children and 3 adults. The Israeli Embassy in Ottawa says that the exhibit's creator is a relative of Khalil Nazzal.

Numerous other terrorists are also featured. Abu Jihad, the former head of Fatah's military wing, led the 1975 Tel Aviv Savoy Hotel attack, killing eight innocent civilians, and the 1978 Coastal Bus Attack.

Israeli Ambassador Rafael Barak said that he is not demanding that the exhibit be taken down, but wants the Canadian public to understand that some of the artists and leaders are terrorists who have murdered innocent civilians.

The exhibit, obviously, is misnamed. It should be called "Jew-Killers, Jackals and Jihadis."

Call me a cynic, but it's going to take more--much more--than that to break the logjam of Abbas's wholesale rejection of a Jewish Israel and his desire to replace the Jewish state with an Islamic Palestine.

Update: In terms of sheer poetic talent--or lack thereof--I'd put Angelou on par with Edgar Guest. Guest, too, was immensely popular in his time for composing inspirational poems for regular folks. And had Oprah been around back then, I have no doubt that Guest would have found a place on her show, since he specialized in the preachy, treacly uplift she favours.

Somebody said that it couldn't be done But he with a chuckle repliedThat 'maybe it couldn't,' but he would be one Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it.He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: 'Oh, you'll never do that; At least no one ever has done it; 'But he took off his coat and he took off his hat And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, Without any doubting or quiddit,He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, There are thousands to prophesy failure,There are thousands to point out to you one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you.But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, Just take off your coat and go to it; Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing That 'cannot be done,' and you'll do it.

Okay, so there are no oil wells pumping in living rooms, but aside from that it's quite Angelou-esque.

Robert Spencer uses a slightly different adjective to describe it--"absurd."My favorite part of the gassy peroration occurred when one of the C in C's half-baked pronouncements (I can't recall which one because, heaven knows, there were so many) elicited an embarrassingly small smattering of applause--the very definition of "damning with faint praise."Update: I missed this part--only a quarter of the crowd gave the speech a standing ovation. Update:Peter Wehner writes:

In his speech Mr. Obama could not defend his actual record, which is (perhaps with the exception of Burma) ruinous. So he opted for a “vision” speech. But the problem here is that the president didn’t lay out a vision so much as invoked a myth. He doesn’t seem to realize that false claims, repeated ad nauseam, don’t become more true.

No kidding. If they did become true via repetition, Americans could, for example, keep their health care and their doctor.

A Nikki Benz, to be precise. She's the porn "star" who has thrown her, um, push-up bra and crotchless panties into the ring. (OT: why is everyone in porn a "star"? Why is no one ever a character actor or a bit--or bits--player?) The Toronto Sun's Mike Strobel writes that Nikki's porn career has equipped her with sterling credentials to be mayor because it too "involves screwing people while huffing and puffing and pretending to smile."As for her platform--it's a bona fide crowd pleaser:

Ms Benz proposes making National Masturbation Day a civic holiday. I know, I know, I hear you, every day should be National Masturbation Day, but Benz sees it as a way to soothe Toronto’s chronic angst.

Also, since we’re already Hollywood North, Nikki would make us Debbie Does Dallas North.

“My industry is one of the biggest in the world,” she says. “It could do for Toronto what it’s done for L.A. in jobs, business and taxes.”

Anyone who thinks Iran is planning to de-nuke itself should listen to this bloviation:

In a speech to parliament, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday vowed to destroy the U.S., which he held responsible for distorting the world’s values and starting indiscriminate wars.

According to semi-official news agency Fars, Khamenei said,“Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist. … This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought. … This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.”

He said, “Today’s world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honor, dignity and morality who are equipped with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretense of humanity easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of the world.”

On the question of Iran’s negotiations with world powers aimed at checking the development of its nuclear program, the Ayatollah said, “Those [Iranians] who want to promote negotiation and surrender to the oppressors and blame the Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason.”

“The reason for continuation of this battle is not the warmongering of the Islamic Republic. Logic and reason command that for Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself,” he said. “The accelerated scientific advancement of the last 12 years cannot stop under any circumstances...

MB was established in accordance with [founder Hassan] al-Banna’s proclamation that Islam should be “given hegemony over all matters of life.” Toward that end, the Brotherhood seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate, or kingdom -- first spanning all of the present-day Muslim world, and eventually the entire globe. The organization further aspires to dismantle all non-Islamic governments wherever they currently exist, and to make Islamic Law (Shari’a) the sole basis of jurisprudence everywhere on earth. This purpose is encapsulated in the Brotherhood’s militant credo: “God is our objective, the Koran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle [jihad] is our way, and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations.”

Consistent with the foregoing credo, MB since its founding has supported the use of armed struggle, or jihad,against non-Muslim “infidels.” As al-Banna himself wrote: "Jihad is an obligation from Allah on every Muslim and cannot be ignored nor evaded." Added al-Banna: "It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet."

Call me crazy, but it sounds like Islam is--how to say it?--at the crux of the thing.

Obama has “cool.” Or what his wife calls “swag.” The very wealthy are with him also because he instructs them how to indulge, to ignore the problems of others, to be narcissistic and self-absorbed with a veneer of hipster cool. Golf, shoot hoops, wear shades, hang with Jay-Z and Beyonce, talk about your rap menu on your iPhone, fluctuate your cadences, do you Final Four predictions — all that means you can be cool and very rich and very self-absorbed while fooling hoi polloi and feeling great about your privilege at the same time. If you are a jean- and T-shirt wearing Silicon magnifico, Obama is your guy. The palatial estate, the imported cars, the indulgent hobbies — they are not really one-percenter excesses (try water skiing for that), but the swag that assures others that outsourcing, offshoring, tax-avoiding, lobbying, and insider cronyism are just part of the hip deal.

“There was an understanding that we were bringing forward an act that would be accessible to people across the NWT,” Dent says. “That people would be in a situation where they could tell their story and people would help them resolve their problem.”

“What’s actually happened, and the way the act is being implemented, is a complainant is expected to bring forward precedent and legal argument for why their claim should be upheld. It's really, really difficult for people to understand and participate in the process in a meaningful way.”

Dent says the process has become courtroom-like and complainants and respondents need lawyers to effectively deliver their cases.

But most complainants end up representing themselves because they can’t afford a lawyer.

“The current process doesn’t always fairly resolve human rights issues,” Dent says. “The current process has become too legalized and takes too long. So we just want to make sure we're doing things right and also there may be some things that we're missing.”

Hey, Mr. Dent, why not be really cutting edge and call for this quasi/pseudo/phony-baloney court to be abolished? You could blaze a trail that other jurisdictions could follow, thereby saving Canadian taxpayers tons of money and ridding the land of the blight of "human rights" commissions and tribunals.

“You were always a territorial maximalist and a political democrat. One can’t say that of Ben-Gurion, Weizmann, or Herzl. Weizmann and Ben-Gurion supported partition—once in your lifetime and again in 1947. Weizmann was a social and cultural elitist. Ben-Gurion was a Leninist in his younger years. Herzl would have settled for Uganda. He thought a Jewish state should be an ‘aristocratic republic,’ because the masses couldn’t be entrusted with political decisions. You alone cared passionately about the right to all of Palestine and the rights of all who lived there. You wouldn’t concede any of it and you said that the moment Jews formed fifty-one percent of its population, you would grant full equality to every Arab.”

“I meant it.”

“But how could a Jewish fifty-one percent have ruled an Arab forty-nine percent without being an ethnic dictatorship?”

“It couldn’t have. But it wouldn’t have remained fifty-one percent for a day. Millions of Jews wanted only to leave Europe. As soon as there was a Jewish state to take them in, they would have arrived by the boatful. Fifty-one percent would have become sixty percent, seventy percent, eighty percent, in no time. That’s the same ratio of Jews to Arabs that you have in Israel today, excepting the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.”

“I see you’ve managed to keep abreast of things.”

“Only in Israel. I don’t follow much else. You’d be surprised how much that matters when you’re living no longer does when you’re dead.”

“I don’t have to tell you, then, that since 1967 we’re a country torn in two: the party of territory and the party of democracy, the land of Israel versus the rights of man, the Right against the Left. I need to know where you stand.”

“I’m a man of the Right.”

“Of course. And that’s how you’re remembered today: the fiery nationalist, the unyielding Jewish patriot, the man of ‘Both sides of the Jordan are ours’—unless you’re simply the name of a street in every city and middle-sized town in Israel. But you were more complicated than that. So is the situation. We control all of Palestine now—and those millions of European Jews don’t exist any more.”

“No, they don’t.” His hands clench and unclench on his knees. “I was lucky not to live to see them die. If only I could have seen Israel born, though!”

“But what should Israel do now?” I ask. “Return to its 1967 borders for a dubious peace? Going on ruling millions of Arabs against their will and the wishes of the world? Not all of us have taken sides. Some of us are split down the middle just like the country. There’s no one whose opinion would matter to us more than yours.”

“Get the best deal you can,” he says.

I look at him.

“I’ve disappointed you? You would have liked me to be more specific? A Palestinian state, the settlements, Jerusalem? I agree, the details are everything. I just don’t have the head for them any more. I had the reputation of a zealot, but I was the least ideological of all Zionists. The best possible deal for the Jewish people was all I wanted. For that, though, we had to be tougher and smarter than we were. There’s no other way to survive in this world: I learned that as a boy in Odessa. Well, you have the state I dreamed of. It came too late for too many Jews, but it’s there. Don’t lose it.”...

The conclusions as far as policies are concerned are as follows: Israel might be able to somewhat help the American Jewish community in thinking how to reverse the trend of intermarriage or find new ways to connect intermarried Jews to the community and to Judaism. But it cannot run away from having to also develop a better way for it to connect with young "liberal" Jews. Namely, to adopt both a policy and a vocabulary that doesn't alienate such Jews.

That is, if it cares enough to attempt to keep them close. And of course, it doesn't have to: the ultimate conclusion of some Israelis can be that losing young American liberals is still preferable to altering Israeli policies and language. But that's a matter for a different discussion.

How can you expect these young people to have positive feelings for the Jewish state when they don't have positive feelings about being Jewish? Doesn't Israel have enough on its plate with internal discord, global BDS madness and the existential threat posed by genocide-minded jihadis (some of whom may already have nuclear weapons) to have to worry about currying favour with these "alienated" young people? And really now, how could Israel even hope to compete with the ideology such youth espouse, i.e. squishy, secular leftism, which has an inherently pro-victim/anti-Zionist bias? These kids have been indoctrinated so thoroughly and for so long that getting through to them is well nigh impossible--so why bother trying? If, indeed, some do come to their senses, they will do so individually, and because their current "religion" fails to afford them the personal and spiritual fulfillment they seek.

The Canadian government should consider investigating the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has entrenched itself in North America and represents a greater systemic threat than al-Qaeda, according to a newly released report on the group.

“The aim of the group in North America is to weaken and destroy the free and open societies within Canada and the U.S.A. from within and replace them with the heavily politicized views of [founder] Hassan Banna, Sayyid Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood,” according to the report, entitled The Muslim Brotherhood in North America (Canada/U.S.).

The report, written by Tom Quiggin, a court expert on terrorism and member of the Terrorism and Security Experts of Canada Network, raises concerns about the Brotherhood’s alleged ties to Canadian organizations, some which have either been accused of being terrorist organizations or alleged to have links to extremist groups...

How insidious is the threat? Quiggin says it's

not so much physical but more systemic.

"This is cultural, this is political, this is a different kind of threat," he said...

“One of the points of this report was to say ‘Hey look, this group exists, the amount of money they’re moving around runs tens of millions of dollars, they’re funding terrorist groups all over the place. At a certain point we have to ask 'Do we want this behaviour to continue?'"

Hell no, but due to ignorance re the jihad, considerations of political correctness and fear of being labelled an "Islamophobe," I doubt that much of anything will be done to uproot the Bros and send 'em packing.

Blatter pledged his support, telling a beaming Abbas that “your people, but also your football association, is not alone in the world.”

Blatter says he is a “self-declared ambassador of the Palestine people.”

How, um, nice for him. Is that a paying gig or something he does pro bono?Update:From Blatter's Wiki page under the heading "Controversies":

Despite winning four terms as President, Blatter has often been dogged by controversy and allegations of corruption. His tenure has seen controversy over allegations of financial mismanagement and the acceptance of bribes resulting in Qatar's successful 2022 World Cup bid. Blatter has attracted criticism from the media, senior football figures and players,[31] due to controversial statements. These include the claim that Latin American countries would 'applaud' John Terry for having an extramarital affair, and that on-field racism could be corrected with a 'handshake', among others.[32] He also drew criticism at the 2014 FIFA World Cup seeding, when he interrupted a "one minute silence" for former South-African president Nelson Mandela, who died the day before, after eleven seconds. Michael van Praag, the chairman of the Royal Dutch Football Association, called his behavior "preposterous" and expressed the hope Blatter would not be reelected in 2015.[33

I can think of no worse choice we could make, and thus none more likely for the current administration to make, than to see a small ray of hope that Islamism could improve as a rationale for further collaboration with and concessions to Islamists. Islamism is the ideology of our enemies and the bane of the reformist and pro-Western Muslims who are our real friends. It needs to be defeated, not brought around.

About a decade of self-imposed confusion on "radical Islam," "extremist Islam," or, lately, "sharia-ism" when the threat is simple Islam. The simplicity eludes us in exercises that are endlessly Baroque. That's what I take away from Andy McCarthy's response today at NRO to a piece by Daniel Pipes.

Andy writes:

His column is about “Islamism,” which is the ideology I (among others) call “Islamic supremacism” — a.k.a “radical” or “extremist” Islam, or even “sharia-ism” in the recent coinage of my friend Joy Brighton . . . all of us, it should be conceded, grappling for the pitch-perfect term that (we hope) justifies sidestepping the gnawing question whether Islam itself inevitably breeds aggressive Muslim groups even if it is otherwise widely construed, or at least practiced, benignly. (Italics in the original.)

To me, this paragraph is deeply depressing. I think it's the egg-shell-delicate emotionalism with which Andy and his peers ("all of us") are still "grappling" with this simple, simple subject of Islam -- the "pitch-perfect term," after all. Why such angst? Why such nonsense words ("sharia-ism")? That there are people in this world who see fit to follow the totalitarian and supremacist precepts of the Koran and the rest of the authoritative Islamic texts is not a cause for Christian or Jewish or Zoroastrian embarassment. That there are people in this world who consider Mohammed, the first jihadist who "married" a six year old, their model is not a cause for agonizing guilt among those who follow Jesus Christ, Moses, Pan or the wind.

Our era's seemingly eternal conversation about the "ists" and "isms" that mainly Christians and Jews like to cloak Islam with continues here.

I use the words "Islamist" and "Islamism" not to obfuscate but to connote those Muslims who take the supremacist/triumphalist teachings of Islam--that "jihad is the way, sharia is the goal" stuff--seriously (because there are many Muslims who do not, and who have no interest in it).Update: I left this comment on the NatPo site:

Another big problem--every time Islam "evolves" it does so by going backwards and looking to the example of purer men in purer times (which is to say the time of Muhammad and the so-called rightly-guided caliphs who succeeded him). Every movement that's gained traction, including the Muslim Brotherhood, seeks to make Muslims "better" by making them hew to the religion's supremacist/triumphalist teachings, the ones embedded in Islam's core religious texts and codified by all schools of Islamic jurisprudence. To expect that "Islamism" can evolve into something distinctly Western and infidel is to ignore history and to succumb to a pointless--and deadly--optimism.

It’s often quipped that European governments have a decent record of commemorating dead Jews, as evidenced by the numerous Holocaust memorials across the continent, and a pretty awful record when it comes to protecting live ones. The imperative of guaranteeing freedom of speech necessarily limits any actions that governments can take against anti-Semitic incitement, but that should not prevent European leaders from explicitly recognizing where this poison springs from. It is not enough to say, as did the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, that the Brussels atrocity “was an attack on European values which we cannot tolerate.” Only when Europe’s politicians finally acknowledge that the continent’s culture of Israel-hatred–expressed through boycott campaigns, degrading films and cartoons, frequent analogies between Israel and Nazi Germany or apartheid-era South Africa, and much else besides–is what lies behind this deadly violence, will we finally be able to say that some progress in confronting this social disease has been made.

Very true, but he forgets to mention the fact that, partly to atone for the Holocaust, the continent which divested itself of Jewry opened its doors to millions of immigrants from Arab and Muslim lands, who brought with them an inbred loathing for "the Jew" borne of Islamic doctrine. It is the pent-up synergy of two groups--the secular left and the Islamic--which makes today's version of Jew-hate (I call it Zionhass) even more virulent than previous forms.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Perennially cranky TV dude Anthony Bourdain went to Israel (he's a non-practising Jew--who knew?) and had nothing good to say about it. While there, he took a side trip to Gaza, a.k.a. Hamasistan, and went wild over all the fabulous things he encountered--the people, their warmth, and, oy vey!, that scrumptious food.Now an Islamist outfit, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, has given Tony an award for his, er, perceptiveness, and an idjit scribbler who writes for Tablet, a Jewish website, could not be prouder of the man and his Gazaphilia:

The segment that takes place in Gaza (part of which can be viewed online) is indeed magnificent if only for its commitment to portraying Palestinians as human beings—living, interactingThe segment that takes place in Gaza (part of which can be viewed online) is indeed magnificent if only for its commitment to portraying Palestinians as human beings—living, interacting, cooking, influencing, speaking, judging, hanging out, working. It’s a rare portrait for a population viewed almost exclusively as victims or perpetrators. It’s a rare portrait for a population viewed almost exclusively as victims or perpetrators.

Too bad Anthony wasn't around during, say, the mid-1930s. He could have traveled to Germany (then under Nazi control) and kvelled about the Germans--living, interacting, cooking, influencing, speaking, judging, hanging out, working. And a German-American organization could have given him an award for his rare portrait for a population viewed almost exclusively as victims (of the Treaty of Versailles) or perpetrators (of Nazi aggression and the leader's avowal of Judenhass).

MTV is launching a new campaign to appeal to younger viewers by tapping into the issues affecting them right now: race, gender, and sexual identity, the network’s president, Stephen Friedman, told BuzzFeed.

The network’s new “Look Different” campaign — a combination of on-air and digital content, plus social media, which will be officially announced later today — is aimed to “accelerate [the] fight against racial, gender & LGBT inequality,” according to a press release.

I wouldn't count on it:My, my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender.Oh, yeah, some say Obama's toast in quite a sim'lar way.Ineptitude's now done him in.To list it all--where to begin?Waterloo--first of all there's Fast and Furious.Waterloo--Democrats claim it's all spurious.Waterloo--Cairo speech it was a huge boo-boo.Waterloo--'Bama, damn, hasn't a single clue.Whoa, oh, oh, oh, Waterloo,Is he now facin' his Waterloo?

My, my, some tried to can him but he's re-elected Oh yeah, and he f**ked up just as expected.Obamacare was a big ruse,Big gov wins, Americans lose.

Waterloo - Benghazi deaths, they should still plague us. Waterloo - That same night he flew to Vegas. Waterloo - Media's compromised through and through.Waterloo - He's never facin' his Waterloo.Whoa, oh, oh, oh, Waterloo,He's never meetin' his Waterloo...

I can't imagine that this is going to be enough to quell the howls of outrage from the likes of CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper:

The Times said it would pull the ad from its website mid Thursday if the IPT refused to alter the text. The change demanded was fairly subtle. Originally, the ad said, "Stop the Islamist groups from undermining America's security, liberty and free speech." Now, it says, "Stop the radical Islamist groups..."

It's a minor distinction. But it came after Times' officials reviewed the ad in advance and found that it met their standards for publication. It was only after "being inundated with customer complaints" was the change ordered by publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.

Hooper, BTW, claims that Boko Haram's ideology "comes from nowhere," which, when you think about it, is a huge insult to a core sacred text which is alleged to be sheer perfection; it also insults the intelligence of infidels.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: these leftists are not "self-loathing Jews." Indeed, they adore themselves and their own worldview. It's pesky Jewry, who have failed to hew to the left's utopian expectations, they despise.

Le bonbon

Box of 4 - $16.75
Constance Popp has created a delightful bonbon in support of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights – a double dose of goodness.

This Fair Trade chocolate is a layered truffle (just like the building!) whose ingredients draw on cross cultural food symbolism, pertaining to peace and human rights.

Made from an array of fresh local ingredients: sage, pomegranate, single source Fair Trade chocolate from Peru and Ghana, Himalayan sea salt and local honey – Le bonbon will remind you that each action we take, including the purchase of gifts and the food choices we make - can support the advancement of human rights.

They may be "human rightsy" but they'll still make you fat.

﻿

Almost 17 bucks for only four bonbons?
What's in 'em--fair trade gold?

On May 22, three great Canadian progressives, rabble.ca co-founder Judy Rebick, the actress and activist Shirley Douglas, and mayoral candidate Olivia Chow will be speaking at the Tommy Douglas Institute's conference "Critical Pedagogy and the Citizen-Student" at George Brown College in downtown Toronto. As mentioned in my last column, the Tommy Douglas Institute was launched this past year with the goal of rethinking pedagogy in an era of neoliberalism. The May 22 conference will ask: What is the role of post-secondary education in promoting democracy and citizenship in our era? And how do today's educators take on the challenge of graduating students who are stewards, not just residents, of society?

Judy Rebick will deliver the keynote speech "Learning from the New Movements" at the conference...

Quite often the National Post will publish something designed to rile up its core readership. This, a piece about the need to "check our privilege," is the sort of thing I mean. The opiner, a journalist associated with academe, lectures--hectors--those of us who don't slot neatly into one or another "victim" group, and who therefore (according to the "geniuses" of academe) have an innate and unfair advantage over others. What's amusing here is that she's willing to swallow some of academia's mumbo jumbo, like this privilege stuff, but not all of it:

Let’s be clear: To acknowledge the role of privilege does not negate the role of self-determination and personal responsibility. They are understood. Even I cringe at new speech-policing concepts such as trigger warnings, which are used to control speech on university campuses. And those on the losing end of privilege could stand to watch how they couch their argument when calling it out. Often, they, too, possess some form of privilege. I know I do. Sometimes people elevate their victimhood to suggest that’s the extent of their value and comes across as a form of emotional blackmail others cannot access.

The beautiful thing about being part of a democracy is the notion of perfecting it...

Wrong. The beautiful thing about being part of a democracy is the notion of living your life as you see fit, without busybodies pushing you around and trying to micromanage every aspect of your thought and behavior. The beautiful thing is the freedom. The notion of perfecting society is, quite frankly, frightening, as it invariably leads to nutty "trigger warnings" and efforts even far more horribly totalitarian.Update:Adam Carolla had a great comeback when an NPR dude tried to pin that "white privilege" crap on him:

“By the way, I’m you’re worst nightmare. I’m the guy whose mom was on welfare, I’m the guy who got the free lunch meals over at the school, I’m the guy who got the government cheese, and I’m the guy who picked up garbage on the construction sites, and I’m the guy who was told, ‘you can’t be an L.A. fireman because you’re a white male’ … So don’t try to paint me into this white privilege bulls**t … I’m never going to buy into it, I lived it!”

Please Visit

Followers

About Me

Scaramouche is my nom de Web. My real name is Mindy G. Alter, and I like to think of myself as a free speecher with a sense of humour. My bailiwick: fighting on behalf of all the good things that free speech helps safeguard, and doing my utmost to highlight the malevolence and imbicilities of those who oppose freedom, whomever they may be.